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Colossians

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. 5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry.⁠ 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 8 But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices 10 and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.⁠ 11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,⁠ 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. 14 And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond. 15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 18 Wives, submit to your husbands,⁠ as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become disheartened. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect,⁠ not only when they are watching—like those who are strictly people-pleasers—but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, 24 because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ.⁠ 25 For the one who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there are no exceptions.

Texts in conversation

Compare Philo, The Decalogue 1:165 and Colossians 3:18

Classical · New Testament

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Summary

Philo reshapes one of the ten commandments around Greco-Roman household codes, describing the ideal relationships between parents and children, rulers and subjects, and masters and slaves. Colossians follows this same household code almost exactly.

Passages

Philo, The Decalogue 1:165

Classical
164 There are also other laws about the fiftieth year, in which everything listed above is carried out in full; and, what is the most important thing of all, the different portions of land are restored to the families that originally received them, an arrangement full of humanity and fairness. 165 And the fifth commandment, the one about the honor due to parents, contains within its brief wording many important and necessary laws: some about old and young people, some about rulers and subjects, some about benefactors and those who receive their benefits, and others about slaves and masters; 166 for parents belong to the superior class of each of these divisions: the class of elders, of rulers, of benefactors, and of masters; and children are in the inferior class, which includes the younger people, the subjects, those who have received benefits, and slaves.
1–50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Philo, The Decalogue

Colossians 3:18

New Testament
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become disheartened. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching—like those who are strictly people-pleasers—but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, 24 because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ. 25 For the one who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there are no exceptions.
80–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Colossians

References

... there are similar household codes in other early Christian writings (Ephesians 5:22-6:9; 1 Peter 2:18-3:7; with less close parallels in 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 6:1-2; Titus 2:1-10; Didache 4:9-11; Barnabas 19:5-7; 1 Clement 21:6-9; Ignatius, Polycarp 4:1-5:2; Polycarp, Philippians 4:2-3). This suggests that the Colossian code may have been derived from earlier traditional material, whether in form or content or both, and raises afresh the question whether this was simply a dollop of standard teaching inserted here (like an old sermon being “rerun”) or whether it had any particular relation to the situation in Colossae. The debate as to where this material was derived from has rumbled on throughout most of the twentieth century, but should probably now be regarded as settled. The model, insofar as there is one, was that of oikonomia, “household management” ... That similar concerns were active in diaspora Judaism is evident, for example, from pseudo-Phocylides 175-227, Philo, On the Decalogue 165-67; On the Special Laws 2.224-41, and the disputed extract Hypothetica 7.14 (preserved in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 8.7.14); and Josephus, Against Apion 2.199-208 ...
James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 242–243.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Philo, The Decalogue 1:165 and Colossians 3:18

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